m-Power Manual

Manage Data within m-Power   The Manage Data section of m-Power is a critical component of your m-Power Data Dictionary. This screen controls many facets of data management, including: Registering Existing Tables to m-Power Creating New Tables Uploading Spreadsheet Data Modifying Table & Field attributes (Description, Format Code, etc) Create Logical Fields Add Database Field […]

Managing m-Power Developers   The m-Power Developers screen shows a list of the active m-Power developers who can access the m-Power development platform. When a user attempts to log-in to the platform, m-Power first checks to see if they are a valid user in this list. If they are, then the user supplied credentials are […]

Configuring Global Application Properties As you may know, the majority of an application's behavior is controlled via the Application Properties file, found within each specific application. This design, while giving developers maximum control and flexibility, can sometimes frustrate developers who would like to globally control some of these properties across all of their m-Power applications. […]

Upgrading to JDK 1.8 Beginning with the April 2015 release, m-Power supports JDK 1.8. mrc support recommends that you upgrade to JDK 1.8 as soon as possible as future m-Power releases will require you to be running JDK 1.8 or later. This change is required as previous versions of JDK have reached an "End of […]

Quick Navigation Included in the April 2015 m-Power update is a new enhancement that allows you to quickly access any settings page in m-Power. In the top-right hand corner of the interface, next to the current developer signed in is now a lightning bolt icon. Inside this pop-up window, is all of the pages you […]

Data Source Configuration file for m-Power Templates The Data Source Configuration option allows developers to control how their run-time applications connect to the back-end database. This file is a global file, meaning that it is applicable across every data dictionary on the system. This file works in conjunction with its sister file, the Servlet Properties file. […]

Embedded m-Power Database m-Power ships with the ability to configure an embedded m-Power database. The purpose of the embedded database is to conveniently store all m-Power related meta-data outside of your licensed database. m-Power meta-data consists of all of the specifications you make (sequencing, record selection, registered fields, synonyms, etc..) while creating m-Power applications. The […]

Change Variable Data Source   The data source is the definition of the database connection which includes: IP address DB type DB driver name User and password Special considerations, such as the library list Multiple data sources can be defined in the global Data Source Configuration file (/mrcjava/WEB-INF/classes/mrc-spring-context.xml). In each dictionary (/mrcjava/WEB-INF/classes/DD/mrc_servlet_config.xml), you can assign […]

Dictionary Configuration The Dictionary Configuration option within m-Power allows you to control default application options and settings within your data dictionary. Most importantly, Dictionary Configuration allows you to control the Template style (Bootstrap, Sky, or Retro) that is used in your dictionary. Please note that some of the options here only apply to Bootstrap templates. […]

Performance Considerations   Jump to: How to Build an Index Retrievals Basic Example Advanced Example Reports Standard Report Templates with Detail Interactive Report Template & Creating Dropdown Lists from the Current Application Standard Report Templates with No Detail / Interactive Report Template Working with Runtime Record Selections Summaries Maintenance Other Things to Consider This document […]

m-Power Data Views   The m-Power Data View is a feature that allows m-Power administrators as well as developers to pre-define queries at the Data Dictionary level. There are a variety of reasons why one would want to to do this, including: Power users, tired of making the same queries/joins regularly, can setup common queries, […]

Configuring Tomcat to not Reload for Production Tomcat   Your application server, Tomcat, comes with a feature called "Reload". Reload is a must in a development environment. After you compile an application or save an application, Tomcat reloads your changes, making them available to you for testing purposes. The downside of this is that at […]

Understanding the Servlet Properties File for m-Power templates   The Servlet Properties File (also known as the mrc_servlet_config.xml file) is instrumental in controlling how your run-time applications connect to the correct database. This file is a data dictionary specific file, meaning that it is applicable only within the data dictionary you are currently in. This […]

Backups When you start using m-Power, what pieces should be saved for backups? m-Power is simple. It is comprised of one directory named /m-power, installed by default in the application server's program files: /m-power (for Windows) /root/m-power (for UNIX-style OS) The generated applications are stored by default in a sub-directory: \m-power\mrcjava\WEB-INF\classes\DD (for Windows) /m-power/mrcjava/WEB-INF/classes/DD (for […]

Setting Up m-Power Applications to Handle Development & Production Data   After developing applications, it makes good sense to promote these applications to a production environment. There are many documents that explain how to do that on this site. For example, Set up a production instance. However, this document covers something very different from just […]

Editing Dictionary Files There are several dictionary wide HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that can be edited in m-Power. Each of these files will open in the same split screen editor that allows you to easily preview your changes. Additionally, several of these files allow you to create secondary versions, giving you the flexibility to […]

Create Your Own m-Power Templates   Jump to: Deciding to Make a New m-Power Template Testing your Template Registering Templates to m-Power Understanding m-Power Templates Creating the Template Tips and Suggestions for Success Dealing with Run-Time Files Creating a Template Image Packaging your Template Moving to Production Publishing your Template Other Important Notes Deciding to […]

m-Power Updates   How to update: Windows AS400 Other OS After updating: Apply Update Copy-Style-Files.bat How to update m-Power running on Windows Download m-Power Update.exe in the customer portal here. Run the m-Power Update.exe. Once completed, click Finish which will open the Update Release Notes in your browser. If any additional steps are required, they […]

Tomcat FAQ    By default, m-Power utilizes Tomcat  as an application server. The purpose of the Tomcat software is to serve as an intermediary between your end-user's requests and your database server. More information about Tomcat can be found here. While the installation of m-Power is straightforward, when it comes to configuring Tomcat, many users […]

JSON Store Management Several key m-Power features, such as Data Explorer and Dashboards, save end-user customizations in JSON files, located on your m-Power server. During normal use, end-users have the ability to view and delete any customizations they create. Historically, system administrators could only view and possibly delete these customized objects by logging directly onto […]

Instructions for Upgrading to Tomcat 9 Tomcat 9 offers m-Power customers the latest security, performance, and stability improvements. As such this document is designed to give system administrators step by step instructions on how to upgrade from Tomcat 7 to Tomcat 9. Before we begin, please note these instructions are designed for standard installations. If […]

Application Relationship Diagram Beginning with the Q4 2018 release of m-Power, developers can now visually see the representation of all applications within their Data Dictionary with respect to how they interact with one another. This feature is useful for trying to document, or better understand, the relationships between apps within a specific Data Dictionary. To […]

Encrypted Password in Datasource File The Datasource file contains the connectivity information between m-Power and the database, including the user name and password.  For your security m-Power encrypts the password for each connection, this adds security to your development platform by not displaying the passwords in clear text when opening the Datasource file. The encryption […]